Disclaimer: I OWN HARRY POTTER! lawyers march in with pitchforks OKAY! I don't own Harry Potter! lawyers march off Gits. scowls after them

Warning: Might be a bit confusing as it switches from first person point of view to third person point of view frequently.

Cyfrgolledig atyn yr Dywyllwch

"Damned by the Darkness"

Chapter 1

I crept along the side of the Burrow, slinking along the bottom of the windows in my favorite form (that of a wolf, if you must know). Vampires (at least those of the type that I am – yes, there is more than one type of vampire) have the ability to shape shift: to change our bodies into something else. The change that takes the least amount of energy is that to…well, energy. Does anyone besides me find that funny? Of course, the change that takes the most energy is that into another solid being. The bigger the being, the more energy needed. Hence the reason very few vampire's have ever been noted to turn into humans or large animals such as an elephant.

But moving on.

Why exactly was I outside the Burrow? Because the youngest child of the current generation, a seven-year-old sprite of a girl with glorious crimson hair and eyes like the sky, had taken ill. A snake had bitten her out in the woods a day earlier. She would have died out there had it not been for me.

I told you I looked out for them. Her name is Briana Weasley, great-great-great-great-great-great-niece of my friend Ron. If you're wondering, he did end up marrying Hermione.

But, yes, the child was ill. They had given her a potion in the hopes of stopping the spread of the poison but it wasn't working. I could practically smell the tension in the house.

It mingled with my own as I reared up on my hind legs and peered into the living room. Briana lay on the couch, her tiny form even smaller beneath the pile of blankets. Her mother knelt beside her, pressing a damp cloth to the child's forehead. Worry lines made her look old and I felt a pang of discomfort.

Another gift of the vampiric blood: empathic abilities.

Amanda Weasley feared greatly for her daughter. It did not take much to determine that she feared her youngest child was going to die.

I watched them, anxiously waiting for Amanda to leave the room. The second she did, Briana's blue eyes locked with mine and she smiled at me.

In all the years of my life, this child was the only one who knew of my existence.

Gathering my will, I left the form of the wolf and let my body flow into that of pure, undiluted energy. I flowed through the cracks underneath the window and into the room, swirling about Briana before gathering myself back together. Kneeling on the floor beside her, I lifted a pale hand to stroke her rosy cheek.

"Hey, kitten," I murmured, smiling gently.

"'Lo," mumbled Briana in reply. "I feel all weak."

"I know, kitten."

"Can you make it better?"

My heart clenched at her question. The only way I knew how to get rid of the poison that had already gone too far into her system was to change her, to bring her across. I had never brought anyone across. And I could never do that to a seven-year-old, a child who had not yet lived her life.

But perhaps…

No. No, I couldn't.

But this was Briana, the only soul I had allowed myself to grow close to in two hundred and fifty years.

Merlin help me…

"Maybe. It might hurt more." I looked into those eyes like the sky and asked, "Do you trust me, kitten?"

Briana simply nodded and I gently pulled back the blankets piled atop her until one of her feet was free. That was where the snake had bitten her, directly on her ankle. A bandage covered the wound that I knew was there. A bandage that I pulled open gently, revealing the swelled area about the bite, which was scarlet in color.

Slowly I bent over her, biting through my tongue as I did so. I placed my lips against her ankle, using my fangs to open one of the bite marks. Then I began to push the blood in my mouth through the bite mark into her.

It took Briana two days to recover. Her mother had given the doctor a tearful thank you, to which the man had just looked very confused. He had obviously thought the seven-year-old was going to die. Yet there she was, skipping happily into the woods behind the Burrow.

I watched her from my perch high in a tree, my heart sick. The child playing happily below me should have died. Instead I had given her the cursed blood of the vampire, which had saved her. I had no idea what it had done to her, however. No idea at all. And it sickened me to the core.

Had I just damned a seven-year-old to an immortal life? An eternity as a child?

I hoped not.

"Harreeeeeeey. Harreeeey!"

I frowned and peered down at the russet-haired child far below me. She was looking all about her, blue eyes trying to seek me out. But, of course, no mortal eye could ever find me without me wanting them to.

She was one of the few I would allow.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off of the branch that was my perch and allowed myself to drop down through the tree. Branches lashed at my exposed face and arms as I dropped down to land lightly on the ground.

"Lo, kitten," I murmured, causing Briana to whirl about with a little yelp.

"Harry!" she cried, leaping into my arms. I tumbled backwards into the dry leaves of autumn, clutching her tight. I could hear her heart pounding as loudly as I could hear my own and felt the thrill of her joy. "I missed you! Why didn't you visit me?"

"I told you your father wouldn't like it if I visited," I replied, smoothing an errant lock of crimson behind her ear.

"But why?" whined Briana, staring up at me with her innocent eyes. Oh, gods, for innocence. I hadn't been innocent in nearly two hundred and fifty-nine years. Especially not in the recent two hundred and fifty…

I smiled and said, "Just 'cause, kitten. How do you feel?"

"Fine!" chirped Briana. "You made me better!"

"Never tell your mother that."

Briana shook her head, lips pressed tightly together. Her crimson locks bounced against her head as she did this.

"Uh-uh. Mama wouldn't believe me."

I arched an eyebrow at that. "Why?" I asked.

"Jus' wouldn't." Briana shrugged then smiled cheerfully up at me, grabbing my hand. "Let's play!"

"I'd love to, kitten, but I can't."

Briana gave me one of those soulful looks children have and pouted, "Why?"

I sighed and sat up slowly, one hand steadying the child on my lap. She clung to my shirt for a moment before she fell back, turning those innocent eyes on me again.

"Why?" she asked again.

How could I explain to a seven-year-old that I was a highly feared vampire and that an Auror had glimpsed me two nights ago when I had given her some of my blood? Even after two hundred and fifty years, Aurors still patrol the Burrow and Hogwarts once every week. This Auror thought I was draining the child and had rushed in, forcing me to flee before I had even had the chance to heal the bite mark I had reopened. Now two of them were at the house, both currently inside the kitchen with Amanda.

Wait…

I sniffed the air experimentally and sneered as I caught the scent of one of the Aurors. He was the younger of the two and smelt of women and liquor. Lousy git.

Unfortunately, he was coming our way.

Damnit. I really do hate Aurors.

With the exception of those who had been in the Order. Tonks was the best of them. Why couldn't more Aurors be like her? She had accepted me after my Change.

After all, she was an outcast of sorts too.

Turning back to Briana, I lifted a hand to cup her cheek, staring deep into her innocent eyes as though I could draw that innocence into my own.

"I – I've got to go somewhere, kitten."

"Where?" asked Briana, completely unaware of the approaching Auror.

"Just…somewhere," I murmured, brushing my thumb over her cheek. Merlin, this hurt.

"Will you come back?"

"Maybe."

"I don't want you to go," mumbled Briana, throwing her arms about my chest. I folded my arms about her small body and clutched her close, laying my face against her hair.

"I don't want to go either, kitten, but I don't have any choice."

"Hey!" yelled the Auror, suddenly coming into view. "You! Get away from her!"

Briana looked up in alarm and I clutched her close, leaping to my feet with speed no mortal eye could see. I ran a few feet away and sat the child down behind a tree, kneeling down in front of her.

"Is he a bad man?" whispered Briana as I peered around the tree towards the now nervous looking Auror.

"No," I replied. "Just confused. Now look, kitten, don't tell them anything. Our secret, remember?"

Briana nodded and said, "Our secret."

I smiled and brushed her crimson hair back off of her face, my throat tightening as I readied myself to say goodbye to the child who had become such a large part of my life.

"I'll see you later, kitten. Don't forget me?"

"Don't forget me," urged Briana and I smiled.

"Forget you?" I said, smiling. "Never, kitten."

With that I let my body dissipate into energy and flowed away into the woods. The Auror rounded the tree a second later and found a teary-eyed Briana standing there, staring off into the forest.